


Sanity Is Relative

by electroniccollectiondonut



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Chance Meetings, Enemies to Friends, First Meetings, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Lotor (Voltron)-centric, Male-Female Friendship, Post-Episode: s04e06 A New Defender, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-22 04:51:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19660183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/electroniccollectiondonut/pseuds/electroniccollectiondonut
Summary: Lotor likes to project dignity. Unfortunately, that doesn't always work when his most reliable method of making friends is through stupidity and the subsequent rescue.





	Sanity Is Relative

_Sanity is relative._ He’d said it a thousand times, and it hadn’t lost any of its truth. Though, standing on Naxela’s only remaining moon with the Voltron paladins, half the rebel coalition, and a handful of Blades of Marmora, Lotor wondered if he hadn’t finally found someone who used the same metric as he did.

* * *

The first time had been when he met Acxa. She’d been crashed and stranded on a collapsing planet, flashing a mirror at the sky in hope but not expectation of rescue. He’d almost flown right by—the planet was just a few minutes away from destabilizing completely—but she’d seen his ship pass and flashed something incredibly rude at him in an Empire cypher, and he’d laughed and tilted down into a nosedive.

He’d dragged her half-conscious body into the cockpit of his ship, the ground crumbling under his feet with every step. He took off with just seconds to spare, riding the shockwave to the edge of the solar system. The air in his ship was broiling hot and when they’d finally spun to a halt, in the middle of nothing and nowhere, both had lain gasping on the floor, sucking in cool air to fill scorched lungs, and Acxa had coughed out, “That was _crazy_.”

“Sanity is relative,” he’d said back, voice hoarse and scraping, and she’d laughed and laughed.

“I’m Acxa.”

“Lotor.”

* * *

Meeting Zethrid had been a stroke of luck on his part, though good or bad he wasn’t sure. He and Acxa had been on a mining colony on a small balmera, searching for a new crystal for their ship. They’d found the perfect crystal and were chasing down the sentry who’d grabbed it from them. The sentry had whipped around the corner and into a crumbling building and Lotor had followed without a second thought and the building had fallen down on top of him.

Acxa had been yelling his name and pulling at the rubble and then one of the workers had come over and dragged him out. Acxa had pulled a blaster on her, swinging one of Lotor’s arms over her shoulders and backing out toward their ship, when the woman said, “That was the stupidest thing I’ve seen anyone do in a while.”

Lotor had stood a little straighter, gasping when it pulled at bones that were definitely broken. “Yes, well,” he’d started, gesturing for Acxa to put the blaster down, “sanity _is_ relative. My name’s Lotor, and this is Acxa. We’d be glad to have you.”

“Zethrid. Seems like you need me.”

* * *

They hadn’t met Ezor as much as found her. She’d stowed away in their fighter when they’d landed on a merchant planet and none of them had noticed her for days. She might have hidden even longer if they hadn’t gotten into a skirmish with a fleet of space pirates.

Acxa had jumped into the fighter and provided cover while their damaged ship limped to safety, and Ezor had tumbled out of hiding to take control when Acxa had been hit. She’d pulled the smoking fighter to a jerky landing in the ship’s cargo bay and checked over Acxa’s wounds. Zethrid tore open the dented door and she and Lotor had run into the cockpit of the fighter.

“Acxa, are you all- who are you?”

Ezor had stood from her crouch and placed her hands on her hips, getting a good look at the people she’d been stowing away with for half a week. “I’m the stowaway who just saved your girlfriend.”

“She’s not my-” Lotor had shook his head. “No. Don’t change the subject. You’re _insane_!”

“Well, you guys keep saying sanity is relative. I’m Ezor, by the way.”

Zethrid had slapped her on the back as Lotor had scooped Acxa off the floor. “Welcome to the team.”

* * *

Finding Narti had been almost on purpose. Almost. They’d been looking for another person to add to their team—their latest mission had required one more person than they’d already had—when they’d been dragged down to the surface of a volcanic planet and gotten separated. Lotor had ended up in a twisting cave—the same one Narti had been occupying.

She hadn’t been gentle. She’d slammed him against the wall and pinned him in place with her tail while she’d ripped through his thoughts and memories. She’d dropped him and given him a look with her featureless face. He’d dragged himself off his hands and knees, leaning breathlessly against the wall. “Well,” he’d spat a mouthful of blood at his feet and grinned. “Sanity is relative, you know. How would you like to join our team?”

_Narti_ , she’d said in his mind, then grabbed his arm and led him out to where the ship had landed.

“Welcome, Narti. I’m Lotor.”

* * *

_“I know we’ve had our differences in the past, but I think it is time we had a discussion.”_

Everything ached. He was sunburned and blaster burned and energy cuff burned. He hadn’t eaten or drank anything in days. He’d been drifting for weeks, waiting for death or a helping hand.

He could wait longer.

They’d landed on Naxela’s moon—not Naxela, even disarmed it felt to strongly of the witch’s power—and Voltron had disassembled. The paladins, a rebel fighter, and a small Blade of Marmora led him into an informal dining room, where they now sat at the table. It was to be his interrogation.

“Why did you save us?” the Altean princess asked.

“Yeah, that was totally crazy!” exclaimed the blue paladin.

“And taking on a third of the Galra Empire all at once wasn’t?” he shot back, smirking easily.

“Hey!” snapped the green paladin, shifting forward in their chair. “We knew what we were getting into when we started this battle! Now explain yourself and your random change of heart!”

The smirk lifted into an honest grin. “Well, I’ve always said that sanity is relative. It seems that it continues to hold true.”


End file.
